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5 Dead in Small Plane Crash

Five people were killed when a small plane nosedived onto a Yorba Linda street. Rick Montanez reports for the NBC4 News at 11 on Monday, Feb. 3, 2019. (Published Monday, Feb. 4, 2019)

A small plane shook homes and "sounded like a missile" as it broke apart and rained chunks of metal into a Southern California neighborhood, igniting a house fire that killed four people, witnesses said Monday.

The pilot, a retired Chicago police officer living in Nevada, also died Sunday. Investigators were collecting pieces of the plane that fell into homes across about four blocks in Yorba Linda, a community southeast of Los Angeles.

"The witnesses I've spoken with say that they saw the airplane coming out of the clouds — it was still in one piece — and then they saw the tail breaking off and then the wing breaking off and then something like smoke before the airplane impacted the ground," said Maja Smith, an investigator with the National Transportation Safety Board.

Those witnesses did not report an explosion while the twin-engine propeller-driven Cessna 414A was in the air, she said.

Video showed panicked residents running to the house as flames and dark smoke engulfed it. One man used a garden house to douse a burning wing that landed on the street.

Some tried to run into the burning house, but explosive sounds came from its garage and neighbors called them off, Winch said.

Clint Langford said he was in his living room when he heard a frightening sound.

"It's the eerie, low rumbling sound that keeps getting lower and louder. It was scary," he said. "And then all of a sudden boom. It shook the house."

Video from news helicopters showed plane parts scattered on roofs and driveways. Smith said at least 15 homes had debris.

Investigators will look into the maintenance record structural integrity of the aircraft, as well as the pilot's record, Smith said. The wreckage will be transported to Phoenix, Arizona, for a forensic examination.